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Fruit Temperature, Growth Rates, and Yield of Peanuts¹

This experiment was conducted m test our hypothesis that the number of fruits established per plant should be inversely proportional m the growth rates of the individual fruits. Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) were chosen as the test plant because their peculiar growth habit enabled us to vary fruit growth rates in a field experiment by cooling or warming the small soil volume occupied by the growing fruits with minimal effects on foliage and root temperatures.

As predicted by the hypothesis, slower growth rates per fruit obtained by cooling the soil of the fruiting zone 4 C below the average ambient soil temperature of 27 C caused more fruits to be established. Warming the soil of the fruiting zone 3, 7, and 10 C above the ambient soil temperature had much less effect on fruit growth rates and consequently only the highest temperature caused a significant reduction in the number of fruits established. When harvest was delayed, as necessary to allow slower growing fruits to mature, average fruit weights were nearly the same for all except the warmest soil treatment. Thus the lower soil temperature resulted in a higher fruit yield because more fruits developed to nearly the same average weight but a longer filling period was required. The highest temperature produced the lowest yield because fewer and somewhat smaller fruits were produced.

Key Words: Soil temperature • Seed growth rates • Fruit number • Effective filling period • Arachis hypogaea L.

² Former graduate fellow, Univ. of Florida; now located Pot-chefstroom, South Africa; professor, Dep. of Agronomy, IFAS, Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.

Received for publication September 11, 1980.